Cathexis: Necromancer's Dagger (37 page)

Gustin answered, “Drake and I were nearly
done for, the Darknull had us both and it was sucking out our life.
It was the most painful thing I have ever endured,” the big knight
explained, not mentioning Drake’s episode with his fear. “Drake
heard the horses first, I immediately remembered you telling us
that the other Tchulians were on our trail. I thought they had
caught up, but it turned out to be the other three Knight
Protectors who had decided to follow us and take out any enemies
that they found pursuing.

“They saw the Darknull on top of us and
attacked. It
leaped
away from us
and I found the strength to call out and tell our friends to use
torches, there were plenty lying around. They took up positions
above us with torches and the Darknull decided it would take too
long to subdue us, so it went on after you.

“Our mounts had run off, so it took us
awhile to find them and follow. We caught up to Hetark who was also
trying to find his horse,” Gustin stopped talking to let Hetark
take over the narrative.

“The same type of thing happened with me, it
didn’t even pause to fight,” Hetark explained, “The creature must
have known that you were getting close to the Kirnath school. I
didn’t give the creature credit for that much intelligence, but it
just left me standing there, worthless,” Hetark said with
chagrin.

Gustin took up the narration again, “We
caught up with Hetark and came after you and Michael. Drake was
riding scout ahead of us and saw the markings of an ambush in the
trail. We followed the trail of their horses and found them near
here, you were unconscious, and they were going to kill you,
eventually.”

“Eventually?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes,” Hetark responded simply, not saying
anything about the
near-rape
.

After a moment Elizabeth’s eyes flared
slightly as she figured out the implication, “I understand,
Hetark,” Elizabeth said and the thanks were evident in her soft
tone and the way she held his eyes for a moment.

Gustin finished describing the rest of the
rescue. “I carried you over here to this brook and it’s been about
two bells since the battle; we’ve been frantic about Michael.
Becaris, Lasar,
Rasal,
and Drake
are out looking for tracks to see if any riders departed with
Michael before we arrived.”

“I’ll go and bring them in,” Hetark said and
went to his horse to mount up.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and let her head
drop back into Gustin’s lap as she rested while they waited for the
other knights to return.

When they heard horses Elizabeth got up and
greeted all the knights warmly, then she recounted her adventures
since leaving Hetark. She did not mention the cathexis earring.
When she had finished the knights were quiet for a short time and
then Drake spoke.

“We cannot leave Michael there without
guidance and protection, milady, we swore an oath to protect him!”
he exclaimed, speaking for all the knights.

“He’ll have guidance Drake, his best
protection is his anonymity. Our presence would take that away from
him,” Elizabeth countered.

“But, milady, what if someone finds out? No
one there will know that he needs protection,” Becaris said,
entering the discussion.

“Don’t you think I’m concerned about that?
Leaving him there was the hardest thing I have ever done. I am his
mother; it ripped out my heart to leave my child! , but I didn’t
leave him completely defenseless, but I can’t tell you the
details,” Elizabeth said.

“Milady, I don’t know what it is that you
can’t tell us about, but if you don’t convince me that Michael is
going to be safe I will go back to guard the boy. We swore an oath
to protect Michael, you’re asking us to put that aside. If he is
truly safer without us then we will stay away, but I’m not
convinced,” Drake said forcefully surprising Elizabeth with his
intensity.

Elizabeth paused for a moment and
considered; the cathexis earring her family possessed was secret.
Its secrecy was for good reason; murderers and thieves would attack
and kill her entire family to find the location of a cathexis
artifact. The only reason her family had kept it for so long was by
keeping it hidden. To tell these men of the earring would be
breaking her own oath of secrecy, one she had sworn when she became
the keeper of the artifact.

She considered her options for a moment
before answering the waiting knights. “I have sworn an oath of
secrecy that I cannot break, but let me tell you this; by arcane
methods I will communicate with Michael and he will always have the
guidance of his mother. I will not know what is happening to him,
but I will be there for him to give guidance. Please don’t ask me
to explain any further. If you have any suspicions about how this
is done, please keep them to yourself, the safety of my entire
family rests with your silence,” she pleaded to the knights.

Hetark and Gustin exchanged looks of
comprehension, but they did not discuss their conclusions
aloud.

“All right, that takes care of the guidance
question, what about protection? Can your arcane means do anything
physical to help Michael?” Drake asked.

“No, I can only give him
advice
.”

“And at his current
age,
this advice means nothing. He’ll have to be older
before your advice will help him, correct?” the knight asked,
continuing his line of thought.

“Yes, right now his only protection lies in
his remaining hidden,” Elizabeth answered.

“Milady, that is not sufficient, but before
you protest let me propose this: of the Knight Protectors, Becaris
and Hetark are the only faces that are somewhat known, correct?”
Drake asked.

Elizabeth nodded slowly.

Drake continued, “Let Gustin and I take jobs
at the school, I could work in the stables and Gustin is the son of
a blacksmith, he could get work in the smithy. Our faces are not
well known; we could stay out of sight and watch over Michael. Who
would know? I think the gains outweigh the risk, he might need us
before he can understand enough to follow your direction,” Drake
said, his eyes pleading with Elizabeth.

Before responding she contemplated his
arguments, and then she said, “If you wait
awhile
so that your arrival does not coincide with the
arrival of Michael, it might be safe. You would have to lead the
lives of simple farm hands; Michael’s safety would rely upon your
not giving yourselves away. You might have to stay there working
silently for years,” she warned.

Drake checked Gustin with a quick glance and
the big man nodded, then Drake said, “We can do it, milady; Jatar
said he always wanted at least two Knight Protectors with Michael,
this way his wishes are still met.”

Elizabeth held up a finger, ‘And… you would
have to let me tamper with your minds. I can block the knowledge of
who you are, and of Michael. I will make a trigger which will
release
your memories the first
time that you see the full moon. This way when the Adepts give you
a cursory reading, which they will do when you apply for jobs at
the school, you will not give away Michael’s identity, or your own.
Then once you see the full moon your memories will return.”

Drake frowned, but Gustin answered for both
of them, “We trust you, milady, and will submit to whatever you
wish to do to our minds.”

Drake took a
breath
but then nodded in agreement.

Elizabeth answered, “Then it is decided, the
two of you shall stay and take jobs at the school.
Meanwhile,
I also have jobs for the rest of you:
Becaris,
Lasar,
and Rasal, you
have made a good team so far, so I am going to have you continue
together on an important assignment.

“First
things,
though, I am about to share a secret with all of
you what you must never mention to anyone except the seven of us,
and Michael some day, understood?”

They all nodded.

Elizabeth took a breath, but unlike the
cathexis earring she left with Michael, she had not sworn an oath
to keep this secret, though she had known she must in most
circumstances. “All right, the Ardellen signet ring is more than
just a symbol of office, it is one of the nineteen cathexis
artifacts.
Its
value is
extraordinary, that of whole kingdoms. No one must ever learn of
this fact, but you must all know it so that you understand why
Micheal must have that ring. In it are the personalities of past
Ardellen rulers, and, more importantly, his father’s imprint. With
that
ring,
Jatar’s imprint can
guide his son.

G’Taklar, a young
fifteen-year-old
cousin of Jatar, took it on an embassy
to Zinterdalin. By this
time,
he
should have started the journey back toward Tarnelin. I want the
three of you to find G’Taklar and explain the situation. Then I
want you to bring him and the signet ring to me. Seek me in the
land of my birth, Autrany, in the city of
Myrnvale
.”

They digested this news for a moment, and
then Becaris said, “But, shouldn’t you have some of our protection
with you while we are out seeking the ring?”

Elizabeth smiled, “Hetark will stay and
accompany me to
Myrnvale
. He will
also continue my combat instruction.
First,
we will travel to Roper and after finding the
right person, we will then move on to
Myrnvale
, where I will begin recruiting an army.”

“Milady, there aren’t any soldiers to be had
in
Myrnvale
, the armies of Autrany
were destroyed in the war when the Usurper, and his
Bliksian
army, overran the country, it’s in
complete chaos right now. It would be dangerous for you to go into
Autrany while it is occupied by the Usurper and his armies,”
Becaris reminded Elizabeth.

“I know Becaris, but there are no safe paths
for any of us now. Autrany is one more thing the necromancers took
away. I am of the Hevarnan bloodline, and members of my family are
the rightful rulers of Autrany. If all my relatives were murdered
by the Usurper then I am heir to the throne, though I hope some
survive. Jatar and I had already begun plans to mount a campaign
against the Usurper to drive him from my family’s land. Now the
subjects of Autrany won’t receive the help they need from Lindankar
to defeat the Usurper and his armies. Though Autrany’s militia was
defeated, there will be many refugees. They may have become bandits
holed up in the foothills. They will be the nucleus of my army. By
the time Michael comes of age I swear I will have an army for him
to lead, and once we have taken back Autrany, we will march on
Lindankar and take down the necromancer who murdered my husband and
stole Michael’s throne."

At that bold
proclamation,
the knights were silent in thought for a
moment. They all knew that what she was proposing was a mountain
nearly too steep to climb.
Finally,
Gustin spoke, “Those bandits you are talking
about are going to be a pretty tough crowd for a Lady such as
yourself.”

And Becaris added, “Perhaps you should think
this through, milady.”

“I have, and though I appreciate your
concerns for my health I do have a plan. For the time being I will
be going in disguise, besides Hetark will be there to look out for
me,” she said to reassure the protective knights.

Gustin didn’t look convinced, but he
refrained from saying anything else.

Hetark looked pensive as he said, “Even
assuming this works, it’s going to take some
time
to weld that army together, defeat the
Usurper of Autrany and then take on the necromancer in control of
Lindankar.” Hetark wanted to make sure Elizabeth understood the
enormity of what she contemplated.

“I have time, the time it takes Michael to
come of age. My son is going to lead this army of retribution,” she
prophesied.

“Now that sounds like a good plan,” Gustin
exclaimed.

But here Elizabeth turned to Becaris, Lasar
and Rasal as she said, “Just remember, I need that signet ring for
Michael. Find it at any cost and bring it to me in Autrany. If
something happens to me I want you to take the ring to Michael when
he is about seven years old and have him put it on so that his
father’s imprint can speak to my son,” Elizabeth instructed.

Becaris asked, “Where shall we begin our
search?”

“G’Taklar is probably celebrating his first
successful mission by sampling every Inn along the trail back to
Tarnelin, I’d start there. Find him, and bring me that cathexis
ring!” Elizabeth said with a determined look.

Somewhere in a dark cave under the mountains
far away G’Taklar spoke into the darkness, “G’lan I’m thirsty! I’d
shake Vorg’s putrid hand for one drink of water!”

“
I know.”
Jatar replied,
“Stop and
listen again, I want to check on our pursuit.”

G’Taklar stopped feeling along the rough
walls and paused a moment in the dark to listen, then he said,
“Nothing, it’s been over two bells since we last heard any of the
search parties.”

“
I just wanted to be sure,”
Jatar
answered.

G’Taklar started moving slowly down the
corridor.

Since their
escape,
they had reached six dead ends, and each time
they had backtracked and taken another passage. They had also
descended four flights of stairs deeper into the earth.

G’Taklar noticed a change in the wall
texture and said, “The wall feels different again; it feels like
rough stone, more natural.”

“
Feel around it again,”
Jatar
asked.

The young man complied and Jatar felt the
rough stone through his fingers.
“I think we’ve finally reached
the original caverns.”